Angela Davis An Autobiography

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Angela Davis An Autobiography was firstly published on September 1st, 1974 by International Publishers. The book was written by Angela Davis. The book explains how Angela Davis grows from a black American girl in Dynamite Hill into a political activist that fights the oppression against black Americans by the states and white segregationists which led to her imprisonment in 1970[1].

Plot

Angela Davis An Autobiography Book Cover[2]

Angela Davis was born in the Jim Crow South in 1944. She grows up through bigotry in Birmingham, Alabama. The racism she has to face were frequent bombings by white segregationists and the Ku Klux Klan in her neighborhood, harassment, and a disbanded study group by the police as it discussed interracial topics. Davis attended high school in New York City in 1956 on scholarship. In there, she was associated with socialism and communism. Later on, she went to Brandeis University in French Literature and also experienced learning philosophy at the Sorbonne, France for one year. Davis attended the philosophy study in Frankfurt after that. As the occurrence of four girls killing at a Birmingham church became a hit new, Davis decided to go back to America to create a significant change. She returned to the States and began lecturing as an assistant professor of philosophy at the University of California at Los Angeles. However, she was dismissed by the California Board of Regents and Governor Reagan for her affiliation with Communism. Davis started to be more proactive in the civil rights movement through organized demonstrations, public speaking, and fundraising. She received many harassments and threats which lead to buying a gun for self-defense. However, the guns were used by one of her colleagues, the "Soledad Brothers" in attempting escape from prison that killed a judge in 1970. Davis went underground as she was indicted for taking part in the incident since the gun that was used belong to hers. Though, she was arrested in New York and imprisoned for over a year. In the end, Davis was released and acquitted of all the charges in 1972[3].

Black Empowerment

Since a young age, Davis had been taking a part in the civil rights movement. Her mother who had an affiliation with the NAACP had been active in ensuring the rights and freedom to be served to black Americans. While Davis was a high school student, she would talk and discuss the interracial study with a few friends. At a college, she had joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). She sought to create changes for black Americans. She also participated in the Black Panther Party. Furthermore, when she was dismissed from her position as an assistant professor, she was more active in a campaign to improve the lives of the prisoners who do not have equal rights mostly black Americans. Eventually, after facing struggles in prison, trials, and oppression, she still endured speaking up the voice of black Americans and the optimism of the improvement of the climate race[4].

Controversy

Davis reveals how life was like for black Americans in Birmingham, Alabama in the 1950s. Black Americans have to seat at the back of the bus, while the white folks can sit anywhere they want. The black children could only watch Tarzan while the white children could have breathtaking films[5]. Her neighborhood, the Dynamite Hill, was named because often bombings occurred as the white segregationists and the Ku Klux Klan wanted to destroy and kill black Americans. The significant news of the bombing was the bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in 1963 that killed four innocent black girls. In addition, she also encountered many racists shout-outs and threats due to her political point of view and campaigning for civil rights for black Americans[6].

References

  1. An Autobiography. Goodreads. Retrieved January 30 2021
  2. An Autobiography Book Cover. Goodreads. Retrieved January 30 2021
  3. Katherine E. Horsley. Angela Davis Fembio. Retrieved January 30 2021
  4. Angela Davis Summary SuperSummary. Retrieved January 30 2021
  5. Elinor Langer. Autobiography As An Act of Political Communication NYTimes. Retrieved January 30 2021
  6. Dwayne Mack. Angela Davis (1944-) Blackpast. Retrieved January 30 2021